In a back-and-forth three-round fight that featured plenty of highlight-reel strikings attempts, Le outpointed Cote to win a unanimous decision with a 30-27 sweep of the judges’ scorecards.

The main-card bout was part of Saturday’s UFC 148 event at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

Le, a more high-profile striker than the Canadian, threw the bigger kicks and punches. Cote wasn’t afraid to stay on the feet and get inside with the kickboxing legend. But he never could land fully with the big right hand he’s known for.

Le mixed in spinning wheel kicks, head kicks, spinning back fists and spinning kicks to the body. But Cote continued to push forward and was able to do some damage when he got inside against Le, a former Strikeforce middleweight champion.

Both fighters fought through a patient first round, feeling each other and looking to establish a rhythm. And though Cote had moments in which he seemed on the verge of putting together the type of combination that could throw Le off, he wasn’t able to pick up any rounds with the judges.

“I feel great. A little tired,” Le said. “I was going to do a backflip, but I didn’t have any energy. He’s got such a hard head – I hurt my foot on it. I fought my heart out.”

Le said that despite being 40 years old, he’s not yet ready to call it quits on his MMA career.

“One goal reached, and another goal to come,” Le said. “I’m going to go back to the drawing board – but I’m an adrenaline junkie and I’m not sure I can give it up yet. To all the 40-year-olds, I did it for you guys.”

“I thought it was tricky,” Cote said. “I was about to push the pace, but he had a lot better footwork than I was expecting.”

Cote (18-8 MMA, 4-8 UFC) put together a four-fight win streak to earn his return to the UFC, but the loss was his fourth straight with the company. Le (8-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) won for the first time as a UFC fighter.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

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